Isabela City now ‘Abu Sayyaf free’

COTABATO CITY — Officials have declared Isabela City in Basilan as fully cleared from the presence of the Abu Sayyaf terror group, a result of cross-section peace initiatives.

Brig. Gen. Alvin V. Luzon, commander of the Army’s 101^st Infantry Brigade in Basilan, told reporters via Facebook Messenger on Sunday that credit for the feat should go to the Isabela City Peace and Order Council and the administration of Basilan Gov. Hadjiman H. Salliman.

The multi-sector, inter-agency Isabela City peace and security council, led by Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, has members from the local Muslim and Christian religious communities.

Luzon, local leaders led by Ms. Turabin-Hataman and her spouse, Basilan Congressman Mujiv S. Hataman, and Army Brig. Gen. Leonardo I. Peña, who is commander of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Orion, together officiated last week the symbolic declaration of Isabela City as “Abu Sayyaf free,” meaning totally liberated from the presence of the group.

Units of the 101^st Infantry Brigade, the Basilan Provincial Police Office, Salliman and his constituent-mayors in the province had earlier declared, one after another, as Abu Sayyaf free all the 11 towns in the province and its second city, Lamitan, which has 45 barangays. — John Felix M. Unson